Court declines to allow traders in Ferdinand Waititu's Sh1.9 billion graft case

Some of the traders had argued that they had business deals and some properties with Waitutu which are at risk of being forfeited to the state after EACC included them as part of unexplained assets acquired through corruption.

Justice Maina had only allowed Equity Bank to be enjoined in the case, as an interested party, after the bank claimed Waititu borrowed Sh200 million to purchase Delta Hotel which he has not repaid and which they also want to recover.

She ruled that the bank has a legitimate interest in the case and that their input will help in making a determination of the dispute.

EACC, in the suit, is seeking to recover the properties totalling Sh1.9 billion from Waititu, his wife Susan Wangare and their three companies Saika Two Estate Developers Limited, Bienvenue Delta Hotel and Bins Management Services Limited.

The properties include Jamii Bora Bank building, Solar House in Nairobi CBD, a building along Biashara Street, a house in Runda Estate, seven vehicles and a tractor, cash in bank accounts and several pieces of land in Nairobi, Kiambu, Machakos and Kajiado counties.

The commission argued that Waititu used his political position as MP and governor for private gain by involving himself in a complex corruption chain with contractors to embezzle public funds.

But the ex-governor, in his response, claims he can account for all his wealth to prove it was not acquired through corruption.

According to Waititu, he started making millions after being employed as an accountant by the ministry of finance and ventured into the business of supplying building materials.

He stated that his breakthrough came in 1999 when he was awarded a contract worth millions of shillings by the then Nairobi City Council for the collection and transportation of garbage to the Dandora Dumping site.

He stated that as his wealth continued to expand, he constructed two petrol stations in Njiru Shopping Centre and Kayole Junction while his wife opened a hardware shop and a beauty products wholesale shop which continued to add to their millions.

Waititu said that even when he was elected Kabete MP in 2015 and Kiambu governor in 2017, he continued with his businesses which collected more than Sh300 million every month.

His wife, in her response, also swore that the huge amounts of money she received between 2015 and 2020 were not benefits from the Kiambu county government, but deposits from her business ventures at various intervals which she withdrew occasionally and reinvested.